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WOOD-- 

* * Ash 



AND THEIR USE. 




Author of " PRACTICAL FARA\ CHEMISTRY," " HOW TO MAKE 
THE GARDEN PAY," ETC., ETC. 



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Wood Ashes 



AND 



Their Use 



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A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE 

Value and Use of Wood Ashes, 



/ 

By T. ORKINKR, 

Author of "PRACTICAL FARM CHEMISTRY;" "HOW TO MAKE 

THE Garden Pay-," "The New Onion 
CULTURE," ETC., Etc. 



PUBLISHED BY 

MUNROE, LALOR & CO. ^''^*""'« 



Wholesale Dealers in Fertilizers 
AND Importers of 

Canada Unleached Hardwood Ashes, 
oswego, n. y. 



COPYRIGHTED 1894. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGES. 

Publishers' Greeting. 3-5 

I. Wood Ashes as Nature's Fertilizer '6-12 

Early Observations — Bulk and Substance — Importance of Mineral 
Plant Foods — Effectiveness of Ashes explained — Lasting Eifects — 
What Charcoal does — Mechanical Effect— Ash Constituents. 

II. Wood Ashes for the Farm 12-20 

Ashes for Clover — Bone with Ashes for Grains— Home Treatment 
of Bones — A Complete Manure for General Use — Grasses other 
than Clover — For Lawns — For Tobacco and Potatoes— For Corn, 
Hops, etc. 

III. Wood Ashes for the Garden 20-22 

Ashes Preserve Moisture— Ashes vs. Insects and Disease— A.shes 
for Muck Lands— Artificial Stable Compost— Onions and Root 
Crops. 

IV. Wood Ashes for Fruit Crops 22-25 

Potash the Great Need— Wood Ashes Best. 

Y. Methods of Application 25-28 

Large Applications Desirable — General Rules— Even Distribution. 

VI. Special Directions 28-31 

Farm Crops — Vegetable Crops — Fruit Crops. 

VII. Some Parting Words 32, 33 

VIII. Appendix of Odds and Ends 34-44 

Analyses of Ashes— Analyses of Farm Products— Stable Manure- 
How to Test Ashes. 

What Others Say About Our Ashes 44-47 

Bone Fertilizers • 47, 48 



6 ?-? 



PUBLISHERS' GREETING 



rc 



No apolog-y is due to the reader for this attempt to publish 
and disseminate among" soil-tillers Mr. T. Greiner's treatise 
on the use of wood ashes as a fertilizer. The people for whose 
perusal this pamphlet is intended — farmers, gardeners, fruit- 
growers — bring to the study of the fertilizer question a live 
interest and a keen understanding. That plant foods must be 
used, and this with a liberal hand, in the task of trying to make 
the most out of their soil and their opportunities, is admitted by 
all. The only problem now before the soil- tiller concerns the 
proper selection of the plant foods. The question of all ques- 
tions is, what materials to use in order to secure the largest 
possible effects at smallest possible cost, and the next question, 
where to get these materials. 

We are interested in wood ashes. We believe in them. We 
have unlimited facilities for collecting and handling them. Our 
own experience, and that of parties to whom we have furnished 
wood ashes, have made us enthusiastic advocates of their use, 
and convinced us that in unleached wood ashes we have one of 
the best and cheapest, and certainly the most natural, of all 
fertilizers. It is just the material for supplying plant foods to 
farm, garden, and fruit crops at low cost, and with a. certainty 
of good effects. 

Our business is to furnish you the wood ashes ; 3^ours is to 
use them wisely. And in order to show you how to use them as 
the *^ right thing in the right place," and not as other fertilizers 
are so often used — namely, as the ri^ht thing- in a wrong- place — 
we have asked Mr. T. Greiner to tell you what he knows about 
the value and use of ashes. As a student of the sources of 



4 

plant foods, their effects and proper modes of application, as 
a practical farmer who has watched the effects of all sorts of 
manures on all sorts of crops, and as a popular writer and editor 
(too well known to need anj^ special reference to his work and 
writings), he should be supposed not only to be well acquainted 
with all the details of this subject, but also to khow how to tell 
what he has to tell convincing-ly and instructivel3^ 

We are sure that jou need and will want ashes. We are 
equall^'^ sure that we are just the parties best situated to supply 
you. Two members of our firm live in Canada — F. R. Lalor at 
Dunnville, Ont., and John Joynt at St. Helens, Ont., — and both 
give their personal attention to the gathering and shipping of 
the ashes ; consequently we know what our ashes are, and can 
guarantee their high quality. 

Having had more than twenty years experience in the hand- 
ling of wood ashes for fertilizing purposes in different States of 
the Union, we find this trade especiall}^ satisfactory. The ques- 
tion, Do fertilizers pay? which is being discussed year after 3'ear, 
and brings complaint after complaint to the manufacturer and 
seller of the ordinary " artificial " or manufactured manures, 
is seldom or never raised in regard to ashes. Everyone can 
see the effects when he applies wood ashes, and everj^one 
admits that ashes pa3\ 

HOW OUR ASHES ARE GATHERED. 

Our ashes are gathered from house to house in a dry con- 
dition, and containing more or less charcoal (as do all w-ood 
ashes), are stored up in large ash-houses erected for that 
l^urpose, perhaps for months, awaiting shipment. Thej^ go 
through first a heating, then a sweating process, during which 
the chemical action of the potash and lime upon the charcoal 
pulverizes most of it so finely that but a small quantity remains 



to be seen. At the same time, most of the charcoal being- 
thoroughly disintegrated by this chemical action, thus serves as 
a reservoir for the soluble and gaseous constituents of the ashes, 
which are then in a fitter state to nourish the plant ; so that 
when we ship the ashes we find they have settled down about 
one-fifth from what they were when gathered in. After this 
heating and sweating process has taken place, while our ashes 
have diminished in bulk they have become much more valuable 
and less bulky than ashes are when first gathered, containing, 
as they do, larger quantities of potash, phosphoric acid and lime 
in a more concentrated form, and are in the best possible con- 
dition for agricultural purposes. 

The ashes when first gathered in weigh from 34 to 40 pounds 
per bushel, but after going through the heating and sweating- 
process they shrink away about one-fifth, and require consider- 
able more ashes for a bushel than when first gathered. This 
causes them to weigh from 40 to 48 pounds per bushel by the 
time they reach their destination, and measure from 44 to 50 
bushels to the ton. There is sometimes quite a difference in the 
bulk of ashes in a ton when gathered and when shipped, although 
there is no material difference in the quantity of fertilizing- ele- 
ments contained in either, as the difference is caused by one 
lying longer than the other, thus being better prepared for a 
quick action on the soil and crop. It takes about 30 cords of 
hardwood to produce one ton of unleached ashes. In other 
words, every carload of ashes represents from 300 to 500 cords 
of wood. This gives an idea of the large plant g-rowth in a ton 
of our unleached wood ashes. It is not the bulk that is required 
in an article, but it is strength and value in a concentrated form. 
A gold dollar will buy as much upon the market as a silver dol- 
lar, and is very much lighter to carry. 

MUNROE, LALOR & CO., 

Oswego, N. Y. 



I. 
WOOD ASHES AS NATURE'S FERTLIZER 



Old settlers who have cut down the original forests and 
burned up the trees, body, top and all, to clear the land for crop- 
ping-, should be able to tell 3^ou something of the practical value 
of wood ashes. But possibly they did not dream that the 
thrifty growth on the " virgin " soil and the long maintenance 
of the original fertility without outside applica- 
Observat^ons t^c>ns were founded, in part, on the fact that the 
burned trees and shrubs had given back to the soil in 
their ashes about all that the^^ had taken from it in the course 
of generations. 

We who have chopped down trees and worked them up for 
lumber or firewood, could see only the great brush-heaps go 
up in smoke, and then wonder, first about the small la^^er of 
loose, light ashes that were all that was left of the big heaps, 
and next about the thrifty growth of vegetation that sprung, 
phoenix-like, out of the little bit of ashes. 

Observations of this kind have given us a pretty high idea 
of the value of ashes as a fertiUzer, and some of us have tried 
to make practical application of the lesson. One of the primi- 
tive instances of such application has often been told. It is not 
unusual for the grower of plants, especially of tobacco plants, to 
burn a brush-heap in a suitable spot, then spade up the ground, 
mixing the ashes well with the soil, and sow the seed for plants 
right there. This must be a reasonably successful method, 
otherwise it would not be so generall}^ employed. 

But let us inquire a little closer into the changes resulting 
jrom the process of combustion. In the wood and in vegetation 



g-enerally we have a great quantity of bulk ; the resulting- ashes, 
on the other hand, consist of a few pounds of mineral or earthy 
matter. The g-reat bulk has disappeared, but with it only very 
little that is of real value to plant growth. In the ashes we 
have the frame- work, the substance. What is gone up in smoke 
is mostly mere fillmg, consisting of materials that 
Substamie ^^® plentiful everywhere. What are they ? Car- 
bon, of which the earth and the atmosphere and 
the water contain a bounteous supply everywhere, and which in 
combination with lime forms whole mountains and mountain 
S3^stems ; then oxygen and hj^drogen, the combination of which 
(water) forms rivers and oceans, and comes down freely from 
the clouds. 

The only valuable thing, in short, which is lost b^^ the burn- 
ing process, is a small quantity of nitrogen. Its loss is a real 
loss, although the gaseous substance is also plentiful every- 
where, the atmosphere itself consisting of four-fifths of nitro- 
gen and one-fifth of oxygen. But while all plants can help 
themselves freely to carbon (as carbonic acid, etc.), and to oxy- 
gen and hydrogen (in water, etc.), there are only a few, notably 
the leguminous plants,- like clover, peas, etc., which are able to 
make use of this atmospheric nitrogen. By growing some of 
these plants, however, as demanded by good farm rotation,, w^e 
have it in our power to regain the lost nitrogen in a cheaper w^ay 
than can ordinarily be done by its purchase and application in 
commercial fertilizers. 

The plant foods which, coming from the soil, are taken up 
hy cultivated plants and removed with them from the soil, and 
which we cannot replace b^^ djuy other means 
'Ivii'neral ^^^® ^^ ^^^^ application of manurial substances, are 
Plant Foods, potash and phosphoric acid. When these two sub- 
stances are getting to be scarce in the soil, profit- 
able crop production must cease, and can only be re-established 



8 WOOD ASHES AND THEIR USE. 

by their application to the soil. These two substances are the 
ones about which the soil- tiller must be chiefly concerned. 

Fortunately, these mineral plant foods cannot be de- 
stroyed or driven off by Are. Every bit of potash and phos- 
phoric acid, and of all other minerals besides, existing- in veg-e- 
tation, is still found in the comparatively small quantity of 
ashes obtained by burning* that veg-etation. In applying- the 
ashes, therefore, we return pretty nearly all the materials of 
real value which the crops have removed, and the fine results 
often obtained are herein readily accounted for. 

Now let me give a little quotation from my Practical Farm 
Chemistry : 

" The man}^ letters annually received by ag-ricultural editors, 
inquiring about the fertilizing powers of wood ashes, show that 
the great value of wood ashes as a fertilizer is not 3^et generally 
recognized. A fair average sample of ashes made from hick- 
ory, beach, maple and oak, etc., contains about 7 per cent 
of potash and 2 per cent of phosphoric acid. Potash exists 
here in a readily soluble form and thus is immedi- 
Effectiveness ately available for plant food. This accounts for 
Explained. ^^® prompt and often astonishing effect that appli- 
cations of w^ood ashes usually have upon plant 
growth, and justifies us in placing the value of this fertilizer 
much above the result of mere multiplication and addition on 
the basis of the analysis. The farmer can better afford to pay 
$15 per ton for wood ashes answering the above analysis than 
the usual rates for almost any commercial fertilizer." 

This latter point I wish to emphasize. Being directly 
derived from woody or other plant growth, the plant foods in 
ashes seem to be especially fitted to re-enter plant structure. 
Wood ashes are nature's own fertilizer, and their usuall}^ pro- 
nounced effect only proves the great superiority of nature's over 
man's workmanship and manufacturing skill. 

The reader who, perhaps, has some experience in leaching 
wood ashes for domestic soap making, has found how easily the 



potash in wood ashes dissolves in clear water. Yet, after all 
the potash that water can dissolve is apparently taken out by 
leaching-, the remaining leached ashes have yet a far greater 
fertilizing value than might be supposed from their analysis. 
This in part accounts for the long period during which the 
effect of applications may be noted. In some instances, to my 

knowledge, a burned brush-heap or a little pile of 
Lasting Effects ashes has marked its location annually for thirty 

years by larger and thriftier plant growth than 
found all around it. Probably such an effect is due not merely 
to potash and phosphoric acid, but also to its other mineral con- 
stituents, notably the lime, which forms the great bulk of ashes, 
and appears in the best possible shape for aiding plant growth 
and chemical action. Wood ashes, as Prof. Goessman, of the 
Massachusetts Agricultural College, says, undoubtedly '^supply 
not only known but also unknown deficiencies in valuable soil 
constituents." Possibly, also, one of the reasons why ashes 
show such wonderful effects may be found in the presence of 
particles of charcoal. 

Again I wish to quote a paragraph from Practical Farm 
Cheimstry : 

*' Although it is true that charcoal, being insoluble in water, 
cannot directly enter into the circulation of plant sap, and that 
wh t ph plants can depend upon the atmosphere for almost 

Does'^°°^ the whole of their carbon supply, if necessary, yet 
the application of pulverized charcoal or other 
finely divided carbon in its elementary form, shows often re- 
markable effects upon plant growth. This is to be explained 
otherwise than on the theory that the elementary carbon can 
be utilized as plant food. Charcoal is exceedingly porous. 
Like other porous substances, it possesses the power of absorbing 
and condensing gases. Hop-growers know what a large bulk 
of dried hops can be condensed into the space of a bale by means 
of a good hop-press ; but a hop-press is next to powerless when 
you compare it with charcoal. This substance will absorb and 



10 WOOD ASHES AND THEIK USE. 

condense in itself 90 times its own bulk of ammonia, 35 times 
its own bulk of carbonic acid, besides large quantities of various 
other gases. It catches plant foods, and brings and holds them 
for the use of vegetation. The precious but volatile ammonia 
is not only held but brought in immediate contact with oxygen, 
all condensed in the charcoal pores, and changed into the stable 
nitric acid, etc. 

" On the whole, I think that carbon occupies a position of 
greater importance in the economy of plant growth and profit- 
able plant feeding than is assigned to it by a majority of farm 
writers, or than might be inferred from the fact that no quot- 
able value is conceded to it, or that it is entirely left out in the 
computation of commercial value of manures." 

There are still other beneficial effects of the application of 
wood ashes not yet mentioned, effects which often aid materially 
in the production of increased plant growth. One is the me- 
chanical improvement of many soils to which ashes have been 
applied. *'As mellow as an ash -heap " is an old 

Effpct comparison ; and this mellowness and porosity are 

often transmitted to hard and lifeless soils by the 
ashes. Even the leached ashes which one finds lying about 
unappreciated on the premises of rural people, are worth 
gathering and putting on the land alone for this effect, even if 
they were not worth consideration for many other reasons. Of 
the value of wood ashes in protecting crops from the ill effects 
of protracted drouths I shall speak more fully later on. 



THE CONSTITUENTS OF WOOD ASHES. 

Speaking more fully on the constituents of wood ashes, I will 
name first the following four alkalies — potash, soda, lime, and 
magnesia : 

Potash. — This is the most important of the plant foods. 
Wood ashes contain between 5 and 9 per cent of it, mostly in 



11 

the form of carbonate of potash, the most valuable of all for the 
purposes of plant feeding*. 

From an earlier pamphlet on wood ashes I will simply quote 
the following : 

*^ Being" very caustic, it (potash) is an active agent in the 
decomposition of vegetable matter. It unites with silica and 
forms a compound which water can dissolve and carry down to 
the roots of plants, thus supplying the plant with an ingredient 
which gives it a coating and strength. It roughens the smooth, 
round particles of sandy soil and prevents them from compact- 
ing together, as they are liable to do. It makes the soil finer, 
softer, and darker in color. It assists it to hold moisture and 
to withstand drouth." 

Soda. — Wood ashes also contain a small percentage of soda. 
This has been found to possess considerable value, at least 
under some circumstances and for some crops, like beets, 
spinach, etc. Its effect has often been so marked that certain 
writers, even at the present time, claim (erroneously, however,) 
that soda can take the place of potash in plant nutrition. 

Lime. — A large share of the bulk of wood ashes — namely, 
about 35 per cent of its weight — consists of lime, an alkaline 
earth, chiefly in the form of carbonate, to a small extent in the 
form of the valuable phosphate of lime. The great agricultural 
value of lime, even when derived from dead ston^, is pretty 
generally recognized by all farmers, even by those who do not 
believe in '^ fertilizers." The lime in ashes, however, has ac- 
quired new life, by ^'having already gone through the chemical 
changes in the vegetable organism. It is in a finer state of divi- 
sion, therefore more easily soluble and readily assimilated by 
the plant." 

Magnesia. — This, also found in wood ashes and taken up by 
plants in small quantities, is the least important of the four 
alkalies. 



12 WOOD ASHES AND THEIR USE. 

ACIDS AND OTHER CONSTITUENTS. 

Of the acids we have in wood ashes phosphoric acid and sul- 
phuric acid. Tlie 2 per cent (more or less) of the former are 
ahnost as valuable for plant nutrition as the 5 or more of 
potash, and are especially useful for the production of grains 
and the development and ripening- of seeds g-enerally. The 1 
percent of sulphuric acid aids in catching' and " flxing" " am- 
monia, and in unlocking" plant foods that are held in insoluble 
combinations in the soil. 

Wood ashes also contain silica, a fine sand which, combined 
with potash, forms the hard, g-lossy surface or coating of the 
stalks of grains and grasses ; chlorine, as common salt, which 
often has a good effect on some soils and crops ; oxide of iron or 
common iron rust, which comes largely from the old nails 
attached to the boards that were used as kindling; alumina, 
etc!, etc. 



II. 

WOOD ASHES FOR THE FARM 



At present prices of ordinary farm crops any waste or care- 
lessness in the purchase and application of plant foods must in 
itself exclude every possibility of profitable production. The 
farmer of to-day cannot well afford to purchase much nitrogen, 
the costliest of all plant foods, when intended to furnish the 
needs of grain crops. Nor is there any particular need of buy- 
ing nitrogen in any of the commercial forms when it can be 
drawn from the atmosphere, by means of clover, peas, or other 



WOOD ASHES FOR THE FARM. 13 

leg-uminous crops, without extra cost. On the average farm of 
the North, red clover is now g-enerally recognized as the chief 
link in profitable farm crop rotation, and as the chief means 
of maintaining" the fertility of the soil to the point of making the 
production of other crops, especiall^^ grains, remunerative. 
The judicious use of clover, in short, can alone help the grain 
farmer over all his difficulties. He makes the best possible use 
of the top growth by feeding it to his farm animals and return- 
ing the manure to the land, and of the stubble and roots by 
feeding them directly to his soil and crops. 

But while clover is called a "renovator of the soils," and 

more truthfully an "accumulator of plant foods;" while we 

concede that it collects and brings to the soil great 

A choc for 

p. amounts of atmospheric nitrogen, it also ramifies 

all through the soil, and even through the subsoil, 
in search of mineral plant foods, especially of potash, and con- 
sumes them far more voraciously than does any other crop. 
The two tons of clover hay that may be grown on one acre in a 
single crop, remove from that acre about 93 pounds of potash 
and 37 pounds of phosphoric acid. If such cropping, varied as 
it may be in accordance with the demands of proper crop rota- 
tion, be conthiued for any considerable length of time without 
returns being made for the loss of plant foods by applications of 
manures of some kind, how long can we expect the supplies in 
the soil to hold out ? Clover is by all means the most exhaust- 
ive farm crop, and we might say of it, with even more force 
than of lime, 

" Clover without manure 
Makes the father rich and the cliildren poor." 

It can only be a question of time when the potash and phos- 
phoric acid supplies of the soil become exhausted, and clover 



14 WOOD ASHES AND THEIR USE. 

ceases to grow for want of proper food. Then, perhaps/ we 
have the condition so often called ^' clover sickness/' and which 
in most cases is nothing- but lack of potash. 

The g-ood farmer aims to feed his grain and potato crops 
with clover ; but in order to get the clover, he must first feed 
the clover by returning to the land the mineral elements which 
the crop requires and in part removes from the land. If there 
is any substance by the application of which this object can be 
accomplished more certainly, and in most cases more econom- 
ically, than in wood ashes, I have never heard of it. In 1,500 
pounds of good unleached wood ashes we supply more than all 
the potash and the phosphoric acid needed for the production of 
the two-ton clover hay crop ; and by means of that application 
we put the clover plants in position to make a strong, vigorous 
growth and aid them to gorge themselves with elementary 
nitrogen and with carbon, both of which are so bountifully pro- 
vided for them in the atmosphere. 

Of course, if we feed all our manures (ashes) to the clover, 
depending on the latter to feed the following grain or other 
crops, and thus make only one application during the four or 
five year rotation, heavier dressings should be made and can 
well be afforded. In fact, I am not disposed to limit the farmer's 
generosity in this respect. This generosity is wisdom. There 
can be no grounds to fear that the food elements will leach out 
of the soil and be lost. They will not. All the potash and 
phosphoric acid which the ashes supply to the soil will stay 
there until taken up by plant roots. Even if we use two tons 
of unleached wood ashes (either in one or divided in several 
applications) during the four or five year rotation period, we 
will not likely complain of the comparatively slight cost of the 
manuring, so long as the land is kept by it in a high state of 
productiveness. 

The case is somewhat different when grains and grass or 



WOOD ASHES FOR THE FARM. 



15 



other seeds are the chief crops produced, and the long- succes- 
sion is only broken by the occasional interposition of clover. 
Grains and seeds of all kinds consume consider- 
Ai'shes ^^^^ quantities of phosphoric acid, and in the long* 

for Grains. ^^^ ^^^ usual applications of wood ashes could not 
be expected to furnish that substance in the full 
amount required ; at least, if we were to use doses heavy 
enoug-h for all needs, we would at the same time waste a good 




OATS WITHOUT ASHES. 



deal of the valuable potash not needed here in so large amounts. 
We must try to be economical. By the addition of bone meal 
to the ashes, or by separate applications of bone meal to the 
soil, we supply the missing element, and this probably in as 
cheap and effective a manner as we can expect to do. We 
should know that in bone meal we have one of the cheapest 
sources of phosphoric acid, with quite a percentage of nitrogen 
thrown in. This phosphoric acid, in fine bone, soon becomes 



16 WOOD ASHES AND THEIR TSE. 

soluble, and at any rate is reasonably available for the use of 
plants; but the caustic action of the wood ashes soon makes 
it fully and immediately available. Indeed, the best and most 

satisfactory method of treating- the old and g-reen 
Home rea - j^Qj-^gg which the farmer mav collect on his prem- 
ment of Bones. . -.---'.. r.^ A . . , 

ises or in his vicinity, to fit them for manure, is by 

means of putting- them in layers with unleached wood ashes, 
and keeping' the whole mass moistened until the bones become 
softened. 

The combination of fine bone and wood ashes, indeed, is a 
most admirable one. It commends itself to the farmer both for 
cheapness and effectiveness, and should be em- 
A Complete ployed as a complete and g-eneral purpose manure 
General Use ^^ ^ much g-reater extent than is now generally 
done. The two substances together supply all the 
needed elements in their best forms, and in well-balanced rations ; 
or they may be mixed in just such proportions as to fit any special 
conditions and requirements of soil and crop. There may be 
soils so liberally supplied with potash that further additions 
will have little effect. In that case, much bone and little wood 
ashes (and the latter mostly for its solvent effect upon the bone) 
will be the proper thing-. Or there may be soils so libera Ih^ 
supplied with phosphoric acid that its application would not 
improve thing-s. Then wood ashes alone are needed. And be- 
tween these two extremes there is a wide range of variations 
and possibilities. 

Bone contains from 3>^ to 4 per cent of nitrogen and 22 per 
cent of phosphoric acid. Now if we mix about one ton of bone 
meal with two tons of good unleached wood ashes, we have in 
the resulting combination a fertilizer analyzing about 4>4 per 
cent potash, 6>2 per cent phosphoric acid, and l}^ per cent of 
nitrogen, and no better nor cheaper manure exists to meet 
the requirements of the average grain farmer, and average con- 



WOOD ASHES FOR THE EARM. It 

clitions generally. It has a supply of phosphoric acid plentiful 
enoug-h to satisfy the g-rain crops most urgently in need of it. 
A smaller proportion of the bone, say one ton to three or four 
of the ashes, however, will do in a majority of cases. The free 
use of these mineral manures will surely result in stiff er haulms 
(preventing lodging), larger yields, plumper and heavier ker- 
nels, and profit and satisfaction generally. 

Many of my remarks about clover apply to other grasses 
also. The majority of our meadow^s and pasture lands are thin 
and poor. Have you any idea what a great im- 
.. p provement you can make in them by the applica- 

tion of reasonably large quantities of wood ashes ? 
Just try it. Put on a ton or two per acre, and see what a crop 
of hay and pasture grass full of sweetness and substance you 
will get. The effects of the wood ashes will reach clear to the 
milk-pail. The thin crops of poor hay do not pay. The good 
crops of good hay and grass, full of nourishment, pay well. 

For the lawn we do not particularly care about a heavy crop 
of grass. What we want is a close, velvety sward. But this 

we can only secure by means of thrifty and con- 
''cem^eTeHes"^ stant growth. The lawn, to be a thing of beauty, 

must be well fed. Shall we cover the ground in 
front of the residence with unsightly filth that stinketh to 
heaven? Shall we allow our beautiful lawn to be spoiled by 
noxious weeds, the seeds of wiiich we carted ui)on it with the 
manure ? Far be it ! A few tons of wood ashes per acre for a 
starter and an annual dressing of a few hundred pounds after- 
wards will give us all the benefits without the drawbacks of 
rank manure. We secure the thrifty growth, the dark color, 
exemption from the ill effects of dry weather, cleanliness, free- 
dom from weeds, etc. 

It would be difficult to make this advice too strong to use 



18 



W00r> ASHES AND THEIR USE. 



wood ashes — and bone if need be — for lawns in place of weedy, 
ill-smelling, bulky stable manure, but I feel like putting- still 
more emphasis on it when it comes to the use of 
plant foods for cemeteries and park use. Every 
intellig-ent man will see additional reasons for the 
preference of concentrated, clean manures in such places with- 
out having" them specially pointed out. 



Cemeteries 
and Parks. 




For Tobacco 
and Potatoes. 



Two farm crops which are especiall}^ in need of a good supply 
of potash in the soil are tobacco and potatoes. How plants of 
the former are g-rown in a seed bed fertilized with 
wood ashes has already been mentioned, and it 
also gives us the key to the proper feeding of the 
crop in the field. The leaf and stalk of the plant have as large 
a percentage of potash as the best of unleached ashes, which 
fact in itself explains the great effectiveness of wood-ash 
manuring on the crop. Tobacco is quite particular about the 
form in which potash is offered to it. In the form of muriate 
of potash (which contains a great deal of chlorine) potash should 



WOOD ASHES FOR THE FARM. 



19 



not be g"iven, as it would be sure to lower the quality of the leaf 
greatly. Wood ashes are just exactly what is needed, and may 
be applied at the rate of two or three tons to the acre in the fall 
or spring- before setting- the plants. Light applications may 
also be made around the plants when setting- them. The result 
of such manuring- will be a fine, smooth, silky leaf of desirable 
color, burning- to a beautiful white ash, and an extra price 
obtained for the crop. 

In g-rowing potatoes the method of manuring now recognized 
as superior to all others is to feed the manure to clover and the 



r 



^:H?&Si4^ 






POTATOES WITHOUT ASHES. 










POTATOES WITH ASHES. 



clover to the potatoes. This, of course, involves the use of 
wood ashes on the clover. But if additional dressings, directly 
to the potato crop, are desired (and they are always desirable), 
we have again nothing to offer to the crop that could be superior 
to ashes. The carbonate form of potash, which seemed to be so 
especially congenial to the tobacco crop, is surely no less so to 
potatoes, and results in the development of starch, making the 
potatoes cook dry and mealy. 

It will hardly be necessary to speak at length about other 
farm crops and their needs. There is none that I know of which 



20 



wool) ASHES AND THEIR USE. 



under averag-e conditions would not be benefited by applications 
of wood ashes. I have seen the g-ood effects of them on corn, 

sweet potatoes, tomatoes, etc., and in regard to 
Hops^ Etc ^^^^^^ ^ ^'^^^ simply cite the instance of Mr. H, E. 

Kinne, who before a farmers' meeting- (Otsego 
County, N. Y.,) told of his fine hop crops of 2,000 pounds to the 
acre, obtained by means of manuring- with a ton of ashes and 
500 pounds of phosphates or bone to the acre. "My best 
yards," he writes, " have had no barnyard manure for the past 
five years — nothing" but ashes and phosphate or bone flour." 



III. 

WOOD ASHES FOR THE MARKET GARDENER. 



The well-known faculty of carbonate of potash to attract 

and hold moisture gives to wood ashes an additional value as a 

manure for g-arden crops. The late J. M. Smith, 

^M^" [^^^""^^ of Wisconsin, a prince among* gardeners, used 

to tell at horticultural meetings, where I often 

listened to him, how much his crops were benefited in this 

respect by his liberal use of wood ashes. I think his usual rate 

of application was 100 bushels to the acre (over two tons). 

There is still another service which we can expect from 
heavy wood-ash manuring in the garden — namely, the destruc- 
tion of some of our most injurious insects, espe- 

Ashes vs. cially flea beetles, cabbage and onion maggots, cut 
Insects £ind 
p. worms, and other grubs and worms infesting the 

soil. Club root, a fungous disease of cabbages, 

cauliflowers, and similar plants, will also have little chance in 

ash-manured soils. 



WOOD ASHES FOR THE GARDEN. 21 

Lands of a mucky or peaty character are often used for 

growing- onions, celer^^, carrots, and other vegetable crops. 

These soils contain all the nitrogen which the crops 

Muck Lands P^^"^®^ ^^ ^^^^^^ ^^J ^^^d. The minerals, how- 
ever — lime, phosphoric acid, and especially potash 
—are likely in very scant supply. To maintain or increase the 
productive capacity of such soils, applications of potash and 
phosphoric acid in some form are indispensable, while those of 
nitrogen would in most cases be superfluous, and consequently 
wasteful. In wood ashes we have the most serviceable and 
usually the very cheapest manurial substance to meet this 
emergency. It may be advisable to add a small proportion of 
bone meal, say 500 pounds to every ton of unleached wood 
ashes, and thus produce a fertilizer containing about 5 per cent 
potash and 5 per cent phosphoric acid. For potatoes and root 
crops even a smaller proportion of bone meal would answer in 
most cases. 

Sometimes the gardener finds it impossible or impracticable 
to procure what stable composts he may desire to use. If a 
muck bed is within reach, an artificial substitute 
Artificial S a- ^^^ stable manure can easil3^ and cheaply be pre- 
pared after the following recipe : Take one ton 
of dried muck (having about 12 pounds of nitrogen), 200 pounds 
of unleached wood ashes (having 12 pounds of potash and 3)4 
pounds of phosphoric acid), and finally 20 pounds of bone meal 
(having nearly 4>^ pounds of phosphoric acid and a trifle less 
than one pound of nitrogen). Mix and compost. The result 
will be a valuable garden manure, having about 12 pounds of 
nitrogen, 10 to 12 pounds of potash, and 7 to 8 pounds of phos- 
phoric acid to the ton, therefore being equal in value and effect- 
iveness to a ton of the best stable manure, and this at the cost of 
200 pounds of ashes and 20 pounds of bone meal, plus the labor 
required in getting out the muck and composting the mixture. 



22 WOOD ASHES AND THEIR USE. 

A lengthy separate reference to the requirement of each 
particular g-arden crop will not be necessary. Suffice it to say 
that all of them will be largely benefited, both directly and 

indirectly, by the application of wood ashes. As 
Onions and ^^ onion grower I have always been in favor of 

such manuring, and have obtained most satisfac- 
tory results from it. But the onion is especially fond of potash, 
and so are all the root crops. On the whole, I like to put at 
least two tons of unleached wood ashes to the acre on all my 
garden land, followed up with lighter annual dressings after- 
wards. 1 will add that the New York Experiment Station grew 
its prize vegetables (exhibited at the World's Fair) mainly by 
the use of ashes and bone meal — a good showing for this 
manure, indeed. 



lY. 

WOOD ASHES FOR FRUIT CROPS. 



Up to this point half the praises due to wood ashes as a 
fertilizer have not been sung. We might be able to dispense 
with wood ashes on the farm and in the garden by substituting 
other less natural manures for them, but such a course could 
not easily be reconciled with economy and safety in the jnanage- 
ment of our orchards and small fruit patches. The great cry 

of our fruit crops is for potash, and plenty of it. 
Potash the j^ ^^ their first and chief need. Don't imagine, 

either, as a new apostle of agricultural chemistry 
is just now trying to make farmers believe, that the cheaper 
soda can take the place of potash in plant economy. You 



WOOD ASHES FOR FRUIT CROPS. 23 

cannot cheat nature by adulterations. Trees want potash as 
muriate, or sulphate, or nitrate, or, still better, as carbonate of 
potash; they will not accept sal-soda (carbonate of soda) in 
place of them. You cannot turn stone into bread. Trees 
cannot absorb soda and then g-ive it back in their ashes as 
potash. A fowl will eat pebbles, and the pebbles are a benefit 
to it as a necessary aid in its proper nutrition. But it would 
be absurd to claim that pebbles can take the place of grain in 
feeding" poultry. In short, our fruit crops want potash, and 
they must have it in order to be able to thrive and give satis- 
factory returns. 

Every progressive fruit-g-rower is aware of this fact. If you 
ever have been present at the meetings of fruit-growers, say of 
the Western New York Horticultural Society, at Rochester, 
as I have been year after j^ear, you have heard the em- 
phatic advice of Barry, and Willard, and Hale, and of all the 
other great lights in modern fruit culture — men who make 
money out of this calling — '* Feed potash to your fruits." 

I am tempted to give a few pages of quotations from the 
remarks of these expert fruit-growers about the value of potash 
for fruit crops, but all this may be found in the annual reports 
of the proceedings and in the columns of the agricultural press. 
As Everybody likes to hear himself talk, however, I will give 
another paragraph from my Practical Farm Chemistry : 

" Complaints about the ineffectiveness of applications of 
bon.e meal or other plain phosphates or super-phosphates to 
orchards, vineyards, small fruit patches, and vegetable gardens 
are nothing at all uncommon. Yet such negative results are 
just the ones that should have been expected. Why ? Because 
the substances named have little or nothing of value besides 
phosphoric acid, of which fruit and garden crops require only 
very small quantities. 

" In fruit crops we remove from the soil an amount of potash 
ten, fifteen, and often more times as large as that of phosphoric 



24 WOOD ASHES AND THEIR USE. 

acid. Many farmers imagine that orchards need no manuring. 
Perhaps a crop of g-rass, with all its larg-e amount of potash, is 
taken off besides. With such great and incessant drain on the 
potash supply, it will not be long before that supply is getting 
too short to allow healthy growth of tree, vine, or bush, and a 
full crop of fruit. 

" Phosphoric acid is used only in small quantities. For 
these reasons bone meal, phosphates, etc., alone are not what 
is wanted for a fruit-tree manure. Potash is needed more than 
any other substance, and unleached wood ashes is one of the 
best forms — if not the very best — in which this can be applied. 

** A sufficiency of potash makes bush and tree fruits firmer, 
sweeter, better in flavor, and renders the wood more resistent 
to severe cold." 

The fact being settled, once for all, that we must supply 
potash to fruit crops, the next question is. What form is the best 
to use ? Both reasoning and the results of practice will surely 
point to wood ashes. It seems plain enough that, 
wood Ashes coming from trees — indeed, being the trees' sub- 
stance — the plant foods in ashes are in best shape 
for going back into tree growth. Practical experience confirms 
this theory. Expert fruit men always speak in high terms of 
ashes. So write the Hale Bros., the famous peach and small 
fruit growers of Connecticut, to one of the dealers in Canada 
ashes : 

• " We have never yet used anything that, for the money 
expended, gave us such remarkable growth in our 3'oung peach 
orchards ; and the wood is now ripening up hard and solid, and 
gives indications of carrying the fruit buds through the winter 
in fine condition." 

It is not my intention to go separatel3^ through the whole list 
of fruits, giving their special needs and requirements. Let me 
say, and say it emphatically, that all need potash, and plenty 
of it, and that ash manuring is just the thing they will all 
delight in and make good returns for. The difference is onl^^ one 



METHODS OF APPLICATION. . 25 

of degree, and but little of that. But if there is one fruit that 
is benefited by potash applications more than another, it is the 
peach ; next to it the g-rape, the orang-e, the pear, the straw- 
berry, the raspberry, etc. For the cherry and plum, perhaps 
lighter dressing's will answer. 

The *' unknown deficiencies in valuable soil constituents," 
which, according to Prof. Goessman, wood ashes supply, or 
chemical actions and reactions not yet fully understood, often 
give an especial and often wonderful effect to manuring with 
wood ashes, especially when given to peach and a few other 
trees. Many ailing trees, supposed to be dying with the 
yellows, have been restored to health and usefulness by the 
application of ashes. 



METHODS OF APPLICATION. 



The results of experiments in various methods of apply- 
ing fertilizers, made by me in former years, have invariably led 
me to the conclusion that quantity of plant foods applied has a 
good deal more to do in determining the result Ihan has the 
mode of application. lb does not make so very much differ- 
ence whether we apply the manurial substances to the land 
before plowing or after plowing, above the seed or below the 
seed, stir them in with the harrow or with the cultivator or 
with any other tool, and often whether we put them 07i the 
soil or in the soil, so long as we apply sufficient quantities, and 
apply them at an opportune time — namel}^, somewhat ahead of 



26 . WOOD ASHES AND THEIR USE. 

the moment that the plants will want to take hold of these 
foods. This experience has converted me to the doctrine of 

heavy manuring. When I am after extra results 
tiorirDesiraWe "^ farming, gardening, or fruit-growing, 1 use extra 

amounts of manure, and I always find it pays, 
provided that 1 select the manure in accordance with the 
requirements of soil and crop. The heavy yields nowadays 
are the ones that give the greatest profits, and the heavy yields 
only come from heavy manuring. From nothing nothing comes, 
you know. When you ask me, therefore. What is the best 
method of applying ashes ? I would reply. Use plenty of them. 
The following general rules may be safely followed for 
general practice : 

1. For the purposes of soil improvement in mixed farming, 
apply a reasonably heavy dose at the start, say from one to 

two tons per acre, preferably to the clover crop, 
p"^''^ in fall, winter, or earl^^ spring. Then follow this 
up with lighter dressings combined with bone 
meal, according to circumstances, year after j^ear. 

2. For the maintenance of farm soil fertility, apply annually 
from 500 to 1,000 pounds of ashes per acre, in fall, winter, or 
early spring. 

3. For the more valuable farm crops, such as potatoes, 
tobacco, hops, etc., increase the applications, say up to two or 
three tons and more per acre. Best time to apply is in fall 
or winter before, partially to the preceding clover crop. 

4. For garden crops, especially onions, beets, carrots, 
parsnips, turnips, etc., use two tons per acre, applied in fall, 
winter, or very early in spring. Also use compost, bone meal, 
nitrates, etc. 

5. For fruit crops make annual applications of two tons or 
more — less, perhaps, while trees and bushes mak& wood growth 



METHODS OF APPLICATION. 



27 




TURNIPS WITHOUT ASHES. 



only and are not bearing- fruit ; more when they bear full crops. 
A few hundred pounds of bone meal may be safely and wisel^^ 
added to the ashes. 

6. In all cases make 
the large applications 
sometime ahead of 
planting, if possible, 
and mix the ashes uni- 
formly and thoroughly 
with the surface soil. 
Smaller quantities may 
be applied to the hills, 
plants, or trees, but al- 
ways scatter the ashes 
well and evenly over 
the whole area that is 
supposed to cover the 
roots. 

M^^ remarks of the 
greater influence of 
quantity over mode of 
application should not 
be misconstrued. I do 
not wish to convey the 
idea that it is of little 
consequence how ashes 
and other fertilizers are put on the land if they only get there . Not 
so. The careless dumping of a pail of strong ashes next to the 
body of a young tree, or of a shovelful upon a strawberry plant, 
would do more harm than good. But it seems like a waste of 
words to talk about it; for no intelligent soil-tiller would be 
guilty of any such folly as to apply wood ashes in heaps over 




TURNIPS WITH ASHES. 



28 WOOD ASHES AND THEIR USE. 

his land. Common sense should teach us all that the only right 
way of applying- strong fertilizers is by an even distribution all 

over the soil. You may sow them by hand, or, bet- 
D'st "h t" ter,b3^ means of fertilizer spreaders. Your chances 

of best results are usually increased if the applica- 
tion is made in the fall, and the land plowed immediately. In the 
spring the field can be plowed again, perhaps an inch or so deeper, 
and the ashes again brought near the surface. But, after all, it 
will make very little difference how you mix the ashes with the 
soil if you onl^^ do it, and do it thoroughly. The plant roots 
will be able to find the potash, and phosphoric acid, and lime, 
etc. Usually I make my applications (in the garden) on the 
surface after plowing, and then harrow, or cultivate and 
harrow, the land thoroughly until fine and smooth. 



YI. 

SPECIAL DIRECTIONS. 

A. FARM CROPS. 

Clover. — One to two tons per acre as a first application ; 
smaller dressings annually afterwards. Fall application pre- 
ferred. 

Meadoivs. — Same as clover. 

Pastures. — Same as clover. The addition of 100 pounds of 
bone meal is often advisable. 

Lawns. — Two to three tons per acre for a first application ; 
500 pounds annually afterwards. Spread on evenl}^ in fall, 
winter, or early spring. If there are uneven spots, brush the 



SPECIAL DIRECTIONS. 29 

ashes apart where too thick with a broom. In some cases the 
smoothing- harrow ma^^ be ran over the lawn, especially if old, 
after the ashes and a little new lawn seed are put on. 

Wheat. — One to two tons to the acre, applied broadcast and 
harrowed in. One point should be borne in mind, that it is 
almost impossible to apply too much ashes for grain, especially 
when seeding" down. If the ground is to be seeded to clover, 
the reg-ular clover application (a ton or two of wood ashes per 
acre) mig'ht as well be made at the same time, or even before 
drilling- in the seed and wheat fertilizer. 

Rye. — Same as wheat. 

Oats and Barley. — Same as wheat, applying- it either in fall 
and replowing in spring-, or at the time of sowing- the seed in 
early spring-. 

Corn. — One to two tons, either all broadcast, or part broad- 
cast and part in the hill. Apply before planting-, and mix well 
with the soil. Sometimes a little bone meal (100 pounds or 
more to the acre) goes well with it. 

Potatoes. — Use same quantities and methods of application as 
recommended for corn. Feed the preceding clover crop heavily 
with wood ashes, and then feed the second growth clover to the 
following corn and potato crops. Or you can apply one to two 
tons of ashes to the land in the fall, plow before freezing, re- 
plow in spring, and plant. 

Siveet Potatoes. — One to two tons per acre. Alwa^^s apply 
all the fertilizers to the hills for this crop, but mix them well 
with the soil. 

Peas and Beans. — From 500 pounds to two tons per acre, 
broadcast after plowing. 

Cotton. — One to three tons per acre. Apply broadcast in 
fall, winter, or early spring. 



30 WOOB ASHES AND THEIR USE. 

Hops. — When starting- a new yard, mix a pound or two 
thoroug-lily with the soil in each hill, and also apply 500 to 1,200 
pounds per acre broadcast. Increase the annual dressings as 
the vines g-row older, using at least eight or ten pounds to the 
plant. 

B. VEGETABLE CROPS. 

Onions. — Two to four tons per acre, preferably broadcast 
in autumn. Plow just before freezing; replow in spring and 
prepare for planting. On muck lands plow land in autumn, 
spread ashes broadcast, and fit ground by cultivating and har- 
rowing in spring. For second year one ton per acre will be 
sufficient. 

Cabbage and Caulifloiuer. — Two to three tons per acre. 
Apply broadcast in fall or very early in spring. About half a 
pint may be scattered on the ground around each plant soon 
after setting. 1 invariably use a few hundred pounds of nitrate 
of soda per acre with best results. 

Root Crops. — For beets, carrots, parsnips, radishes, etc., 
use from one to three tons in the fall ; plow in spring and apply 
another ton. Harrow and sow. 

Celery. — One to three tons per acre. Plow in before plant- 
ing. Top dressings ma}^ be given afterwards. 

Tomatoes. — One to two tons per acre, with a few hundred 
pounds of bone meal. Apply after plowing, then harrow and 
set the plants. Afterwards scatter a small quantity around 
each plant. 

Vines. — For cucumbers, melons, and squash, use in place of 
one-half of the usual heavy applications of compost from one 
to two tons of wood ashes per acre. Work the ashes well 
into the soil before planting the seed. Hill applications may 
also be made afterwards. 



SPECIAL DIRECTIONS. 31 

C. FRUIT CROPS. 

Peaches. — Apply one and a half to two tons per acre when 
preparing soil for planting- orchard. Around young trees just 
set out apply two or three pounds of ashes, and work it well into 
the soil. Increase the quantity at each annual dressing, at first 
adding about two pounds per tree each year, and three or four 
pounds when the trees have come into bearing. Broadcast ap- 
plication of say two tons or more per acre when the trees are of 
bearing age will be entirely safe, and usually most convenient. 

Apples. — Same as peaches. 

Pears. — Same as peaches. 

Quinces. — Same as peaches. 

Cherries. — Same as peaches. Smaller applications may 
suffice. 

Plums. — Same as cherries. 

Grapes. — Same as hops (under A). 

Currants. — Two tons of the ashes per acre. Appl3^ in fall 
or spring. Or two to three pounds worked into the soil around 
each plant. 

Gooseberries. — Same as currants. 

Raspberries. — Two or three pounds of the ashes to the 
bush, w^ell worked into the soil; or two tons per acre applied 
broadcast in fall or early spring. 

Blackberries. — Same as raspberries. 

Straivberries. — One to three tons of the ashes per acre. 
Use a ton or two broadcast after the ground is plowed for a 
new plantation. Use the harrow freely afterwards. A top 
dressing of a ton or two may be given later. The crop is a 
valuable one and will pay well for extra manuring. 



32 WOOD ASHES AND THEIR USE. 

VII. 

SOME PARTING WORDS 

FROM THE PUBLISHERS. 



Probably you are in need of unleached wood ashes. We are 
in the business of collecting- and supplying- them. We know 
there is a great difference in the value and quality of ashes, and 
it requires good judgment and long experience to be able to 
secure good ashes all the time. 

An experience of over twenty years has enabled us to 
acquire that knowledge. Our ashes are gathered from house to 
house, giving employment to several hundred men and horses, 
and housed as gathered. We also do our own shipping, and are 
therefore able to say that our ashes are the best in the market. 
Many have attempted to supply unleached ashes but from their 
want of experience as to quality, their ashes have not given the 
satisfaction which had been promised. With us our trade in 
unleached ashes has constantly increased from the first year's 
shipment of 30 tons until now our shipments amount to several 
thousand tons each year. We give it our personal and ex- 
clusive attention, so that we can most certainly guarantee our 
wood ashes to be the best and cheapest fertilizer in use. As we 
make the fertilizer trade our business, it is for our interest to 
sell only the best that can be obtained, thereby enabling us to 
increase our trade. Those who have made the most thorough 
tests in the use of our Canada unleached ashes, assert that they 
are superior to the best of stable manure for all kinds of fruit 
and fruit trees, grass and other crops. They also produce a 
steady and permanent improvement of the soil. 

We would be pleased to have you examine the analyses of our 



SOME PARTING WOKDS. 33 

Canada unleached hardwood ashes, found upon the following- 
pages. They have been made by some of the best chemists in 
Massachusetts and other States, some of whom are in charge of 
agricultural experimental stations of those States. From such 
analyses it will be seen that our unleached ashes contain from 
5^ to 8}^ per cent of potassium of oxide, or pure potash, equal 
to from 8 to 12 per cent of carbonate potash, which is the most 
valuable of all potash for agricultural purposes, especially for 
all fruits and fruit trees. 

Potash as found naturally in w^ood ashes is in the form of 
carbonate. Chemists in analyzing ashes reduce this potash to 
what they style potassium oxide, which is not always distinctly 
understood and needs a little explanation. Thus, suppose a 
chemist in an analysis of wood ashes makes the potassium 
oxide 6 per cent; this would be almost nine pounds of carbonate 
potash contained in 100 pounds of wood ashes. No careful test 
that has been made of our ashes places the potassium oxide 
below 5 per cent. Entire satisfaction has been expressed by 
all who have given our ashes the most thorough tests, both 
with the quality and price, and more particularly after a few 
years use, when they find their returns plainly visible in the 
early ripening of their grain or the lusciousness of their fruit. 
Some have gone so far as to say they really derive more benefit 
from a ton of ashes than from a like quantity of mercantile fer- 
tilizer costing more than double what the ashes do. State ashes 
have been sold in some sections at from 45 to 60 cents per 
bushel, or equal to about $25 to $30 per ton, and the con- 
sumers have even at this price found them very profitable for 
all vegetables and fruit trees. 

The name " wood ashes " is not always a guarantee of the 
value contained in the article, for there is as much difference in 
the quality and value of ashes as there is in tea, coffee, sugar, 
or any other article of food or merchandise. 



34 WOOD ASHES AND THEIR USE. 

VIII. 

APPENDIX OF ODDS AND ENDS. 

BY THE PUBLISHERS. 



ANALYSES OF UNLEACHED AND LEACHED ASHES. 

We g-ive below the average analyses of 19 samples of 
unleached ashes and of 13 samples of leached ashes made 
at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, which 
can be found in ^^Appleton's Farmers' Annual Hand-Book/' as 
follows : 

UNLEACHED ASHES. LEACHED ASHES. 

Moisture (5.7 30.9 

Silica and iusoluble 13.7 11.7 

Alumina and oxide of iron 2.8 2.1 

Lime 30 9 29.7 

Magnesia 4 9 3.0 

Potash (pure) 7.7 eq. to C. P. 11.317 1.1 eq. to C. P. 1.617 

Soda 1.0 0.4 

Sulphuric acid 1.4 0.1 

Phosphoric acid 2.1 1.5 

Chlorine 0.6 0. 1 

Carbonic acid 23.2 21.1 

It will be seen from the above analyses that leached ashes 
contain only one-seventh as much potash as unleached ashes, 
although they are sometimes sold at from 18 to 24 cents per 
bushel, and are considered valuable as a fertilizer even at that 
price, thus proving the great value of the large quantity of 
vegetable lime which the Canada ashes contain ; yet the un- 
leached ashes, containing, as they do, seven times as much 
potash as the leached ashes, and very much richer in phosphoric 
acid, magnesia, sulphuric acid and soda, renders the unleached 
ashes more than three times as valuable as the leached ashes. 



APPENDIX OF ODDS AND ENDS. 35 

The following- analyses are taken from the thirteenth 
annual report of the State Board of Agriculture of Massa- 
chusetts, which gives the analysis of two samples of unleached 
ashes from different parts of that State, and by comparing 
them with the analysis of our Canada unleached ashes, at once 
shows the g-reat difference between State and Canada ashes in 
potash, lime, insoluble matter, and consequently in value : 

1. 2. 

Moisture 1.78 per cent 2.26 per cent 

Potassium oxide (potash) 2.90 " 3.26 " 

Sodium oxide not determined 1.83 " 

Calcium oxide (lime) 4.84 per cent 20.29 " 

Magnesium oxide 3. 15 " not determined 

Phosphoric acid 1.55 " 1.28 per cent 

Insoluble matter 63.93 " 35.15 

We give below the analyses of two samples of our ashes 
made by Prof. George H. Cook, of New Brunswick, N. J., which 
can be found in the New Jersey State report : 

1. 2. 

Pure potash 8.72 5.87 

Phosphoric acid 1.17 2.02 

Lime 36.80 42.60 

The following analyses of our ashes are taken from the 
annual report of the State Agricultural Experiment Station at 
Amherst, Mass., by Prof. C. A. Goessman: 

1. 2. 3. 4. 

Moisture 16.70 8.33 1.03 10.01 

Calcium oxide (lime) 35.26 45.00 50.02 35.67 

Potassium oxide (pure potash) 5.55 5.9L 6.94 7.19 

Phosphoric acid 2.28 1.74 1.29 1.28 

Insoluble matter 4.90 3.88 2.28 6.37 

FROM BULLETINS NOS. 11 AND 13. 

Moisture = 5.56 15.00 

Calcium oxide (lime) 35.68 35.22 

Potassium oxide (pure potash) 5.83 5.50 

Magnesium oxide 0.61 3.24 

Phosphoric acid 2.55 2.53 

Insoluble matter T 11.95 9.05 

To Richard Webster, Haverhill, Mass. : 

The wood ashes received from you, said to be Canada ashes, 
contain : 



36 WOOD ASHES AND THEIR USE. 

Potash (K. 0.) 5.42 

Phosphoric acid (P. 0.) 1.53 

Lime (Ca. 0. ) 35.40 

Iron and alumina 92 

Carbon and carbonic acid 32. 78 

Moisture 13.01 

Magnesia ( M g. 0. ) 2.65 

Silica 8.29—100.00 

These ashes are evidently pure, unadulterated wood ashes. 
They have, however, absorbed considerable moisture and car- 
bonic acid from exposure to the air. Their market value would 
be about as follows : 

5.42 lbs. of potash at 10c 5420 

35.40 lbs. of lime at He 4375 

1.53 lbs. phosphoric acid at lOc 1530 —.7835 

Yalue per bushel 39 17-100 

If these ashes were perfectly dry they would be worth 45 
cents per bushel at the market rates for potash, phosphoric acid 
and lime. Crude potash is worth 5 cents per pound. This only 
contains about 60 per cent of pure potash (K. O.), so that the 
price of potash in this form is 8>4 cents per pound. The carbon 
or charcoal in wood ashes also adds to their value as a fertil- 
izer. The potash iu the wood ashes is of considerable more 
value than when it exists as a chloride or sulphate, as in the 
German potash salts. Respectfully, 

S. P. Sharples, State Assay er, 

Boston, Mass. 

One of the more recent analyses of our unleached wood ashes, 
made by Prof. H. J. Wheeler, of the Rhode Island State Ex- 
periment Station, is here submitted : 

Kingston, R. T., July 21, 1894. 
Munroe, Lalor tf- Co., 32 Arcade Bloc!:, Osivcgo, N. Y. 

Gentlemen : — The following is the result of analysis of sample of ashes col- 
lected April 9, 1894 : 

Phosphoric acid 1.62 per cent. 

Potash (potassium oxide) 6.09 " 

Yery truly, H. J. Wheeler, Chemist. 



APPENDIX OF ODDS AND ENDS. 37 

We g-ive below the analysis which represents the average of 
15 samples of our Canada unleached wood ashes taken from 
that number of cars while the3^ were being* unloaded at destina- 
tion and analyzed by Prof. George Archbold, Pha?.nix, N. Y- 
Xheir value is calculated at the market price for each constituent. 

ELEMENTS FOUND IN VALUE PER 
100 LBS. OF ASHES. TON. 

Moisture 6.865 

Potassium oxide, 8.276, equal to carbooate potash, 

(K^.C.O^.) 12.249 at 5c.perlb. $12.15 

Phosphoric acid (P^. 0^) 2.408 " 15c. " 7.22 

Calcium oxide (vegetable lime) (Ca. 0.) 35.:594 " l^c. " 8.85 

Magaesium oxide (Mg. 0.) 4.486 " 4c. *' 3.,58 

Oxide of Iron (Pe^.O^.) 1.896'' Ic. '' 38 

Sulphuric acid (S. 03.) 1.100'' 3c. " 66 

Chlorine (CI.) 0.560" 5c. " 56 

Silica and alumina (Si. 0^. and Al^.O^.) 5.415 ) Not calculated, but of 

Carbon (charcoal) 8.620 Vgreat value to the soil 

Carbonic acid (C. 0^.) 24.980 S^^^ ^'^'^'^^^ 



Which makes the commercial value per ton of 2,000 pounds $33.40 

Their ag-ricultural value proves to be very much above these 
fig-ures hy those who have had several years experience in the 
use of unleached wood ashes and also with commercial fertilizers. 
The declaration is frequently made that more benefit is derived 
from the use of a ton of good unleached wood ashes, from the 
time of their application and while they continue to exhibit 
their usefulness in the soil (lasting, as they do, many years), 
than is derived from an equal quantity of commercial fertilizer, 
costing from $35 to $50 per ton. 

Unleached wood ashes are really nature's complete fertilizer. 
The elements of which they are composed, being drawn from 
the soil, are in just the condition required for the growth of 
the plant. 

The chemical action of unleached ashes, after being applied 
to the soil, draws from the atmosphere all the nitrogen required 
to supply the plant during its g-rowth and ripening- process. 

Prof. C. A. Goessman, Amherst, Mass., says in his report 



38 WOOD ASHES AND THEIR USE. 

on ashes : '^ The universal high opinion of wood ashes as a 
fertilizer does not depend merely upon a fair percentage of 
potash, but also on the presence of more or less of all the 
various mineral elements essential to the growth of plants. 
Wood ashes, like barnyard manure, on account of their com- 
pound character, meet, to some extent at least, not only known 
but unknown deficiencies in valuable soil constituents. The 
thorough mixture of the various constituents have, no doubt, a 
beneficial influence on their action." 

Much is said regarding the value of artificial manure con- 
taining a large per cent of available phosphoric acid (P2.O5.) 
However, it is now an admitted fact that the most of it is again 
rendered insoluble and useless as plant food after mixing with 
the soil. On this point Lawes and Gilbert, speaking of the con- 
stituents of artificial manure, say : "There can be little doubt 
that some of them, especially phosphoric acid, assume more or 
less insoluble forms after mixing with the soil, and cease to be 
available as food for the plant." The phosphoric acid in wood 
ashes is in the form of phosphate of lime, equal to bone phos- 
phate (Ca3.P2.O8.), and is in the best possible form in wood ashes, 
and held soluble by them for delivery to the growing plant. It 
is now an undisputed fact that wood ashes are capable of produc- 
ing a marked and long effect on succeeding crops. The value, 
therefore, of pure unleached wood ashes in agriculture cannot 
be overestimated, inasmuch as their constituents are those 
really used in the proportion required by nature. 

The general analysis of wood ashes shows that there is from 
42 to 48 per cent of magnesia, soda, sulphuric acid, silica, car- 
bonic acid, alumina and oxide of iron. While these elements 
are not considered of any particular importance b}^ the chemist, 
they are of great value to the soil, crops and fruit. Many soils 
are deficient in these constituents in available forms. When 
articles of an apparently similar character are offered to farm- 



APPENDIX OF ODDS AND ENDS. 39 

ers for their consideration, it is necessary for them to understand 
the chemical condition of the various fertilizing- materials, both 
sfmple and compound. Their deg-ree of fineness, thoroug-h mix- 
ture of all constituents, their solubility, their power of rapid 
diffusion throug-h the soil — these are the conditions which should 
be taken into consideration when determining* the real value of 
a fertilizer, and which we claim are found only in wood ashes, 
containing", as they do, all the constituents found in new soil in 
better proportions and more thoroug-hly mixed than in any 
other fertilizer. 

J. J. H. Gregory, the great seedsman of Marblehead, Mass., 
addressing the market gardeners at a meeting of farmers, in 
alluding to the use of potash for fertilizing purposes, said : " If 
you want something in your fertilizer besides potash, that is an 
argument for ashes. The potash in German salt is a dead 
potash. The potash in ashes is a caustic, biting potash. It will 
cut into the soil and make it more digestible and better suited 
for plant food. It is an active agency in collecting plant food 
from whatever it comes in contact with. The German potash 
does not do this. The latter has quite a proportion of salt. 
Considering that wood ashes contain an active potash, and so 
many other elements besides potash, and the proportions which 
are perfect for plant food, except nitrogen — for the Creator 
made them so — I oftentimes prefer wood ashes. In regard to 
the application of potash to the crop, here is a general fact : To 
get the best results we want to apply them before the dry sea- 
son comes on, when frost and rain and snow will have i)lenty of 
action upon them, diluting and disseminating them through the 
ground. The best way to apply potash is in the form of ashes." 

When potash is applied in any other form than in ashes there 
is danger of its leaching out too rapidly and being lost. Potash 
in unleached ashes is in the carbonate potash form, and in this 
form is held in store by the ashes and leaches out gradually ; 



40 WOOD ASHES AND THEIR USE. 

the potash is absorbed by the soil and the danger of loss by too 
rapid leaching" avoided. We claim that the condition in which 
carbonate potash is found in wood ashes renders it as a fertilizer 
for agricultural purposes of equal value, pound for pound, as 
potassium oxide. 

If in 100 pounds of ashes there are found seven pounds of 
potassium oxide, it is equivalent to 10.29 pounds of carbonate 
potash, the price of which in the market would be five cents a 
pound. At this estimate it will readily be seen that the value of 
the carbonate potash in one ton of wood ashes w^ould be $10.29. 

The phosphoric acid in ashes being in the form of phos- 
phate of lime, and equal to bone phosphate (Ca^.P^.O^.), its 
value is at least 15 cents per pound at destination. It readily 
becomes soluble again upon being applied to the soil, and its 
action upon the plant when applied in this form produces the 
best possible results. The vegetable lime in ashes being very 
fine, and five times as strong as stone lime, and prepared by 
nature for the soil and plant, easily becomes soluble again, and 
its value is at least Iji cents per pound. According to these 
figures, allowing the average to be only 7 per cent of potash, 2 
per cent of phosphoric acid and 39 per cent of lime, it will be 
seen that our ashes are worth at destination $26.25 per ton for 
those ingredients alone, and when to these are added the silica, 
iron, magnesia and carbonic acid, their value must certainly be 
estimated at from $30 to $35 per ton, and their use upon the 
crops will show their value to be even above these figures. 

The prices generally given in reports from experimental 
stations, touching the value of different fertilizing elements, are 
based upon the wholesale price at certain centrally located 
points, and to these should be added 20 per cent for railroad 
freights and other expenses to destination before the consumer 
will receive the goods. Our unleached wood ashes are deliv- 
ered at the nearest railroad station to the purchaser at the 
prices named by us for the ashes. 



APPENDIX OF ODDS AND ENDS. 



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42 WOOD ASHES AND THEIR USE. 

STABLE MANURE. 

The American Agricultmnst of a recent date sa^^s : At a meet- 
ing" of the New York Farmers' Club, Mr. Charles V. Mapes pre- 
sented an able paper upon fertilizers, and in alluding- to stable 
manure gave its composition as follows : " In 2,000 pounds 
well rotted average stable manure we have : 

Water 1,400 to 1,500 pounds. 

Vegetable organic matter 350" 400 " 

Ash 150" 170 " 

"Its ash contains lime, soda, magnesia, salt, etc. Of really 

valuable ingredients, the ton contains less than 30 pounds, viz.: 

IS^itrogen 10 to 12 pounds. 

Phosphoric acid 6" 7 " 

Potash 10 " 12 " 

" The nitrogen is included in the ammonia, 17 pounds of which 
contain 14 pounds of nitrogen. These 30 pounds or less of 
available constituents per ton vary greatl}^ in their solubility 
and practical value, according to the crop to which the manure 
is applied. On one hand, corn, rye, and clover, with their strong, 
far-reaching root growth and rank feeding powers, can utilize 
a considerable portion during their first season. On the other 
hand, light and dainty feeding crops with limited root growth, 
such as onions, potatoes, oats, strawberries, hops, and even 
wheat and barley, with com.paratively short seasons of growth^ 
and requiring large and available supplies of plant food within 
easy reach, cannot utilize these 30 pounds of farm manure. 

" Corn will thrive with moderate dressings of quite coarse 
stable manure, but the onion crop is so dependent upon liberal 
quantities of thoroughly decomposed and, as may be said, ready 
food, that we find onion growers taking two or three years to 
prepare lands which are even naturall^^ adapted to this crop. 
The3^ apply large quantities of good stable manure each year in 
excess of the annual requirements, to lay up the necessary 
stores for the dainty onion." 



APPENDIX OF ODDS AND ENDS. 43 

HOW UNLEACHED ASHES MAY BE TESTED. 

There are two or three simple ways in which tlie strengtli of 
potash and ashes may be tested : 

First. By putting a few upon the tongue to dissolve, and 
repeating- tlie experiment two or three times. 

Secondly. By wetting a few in the hand and wasliing the 
hands with them, and the potash will exhibit itself b}^ the hands 
becoming very slippery, as though washed with soap. 

Thirdly. If the ashes have stood some time where they 
have become air-slacked and tasteless, then they can be tested 
by putting say three tablespoonfuls of the ashes in a third of a 
tumbler of warm water and letting them stand over night ; then 
taste of the liquor. The better way, of course, is a chemical 
analysis, but this is not alwa^^s convenient. 

If it is desirable to make a further test, the following plan 
can be adopted : Take a tight barrel ; make a hole near the 
bottom, to which fit a plug ; in the bottom put a few small sticks 
of w^ood crosswaj^s, and a little straw on top of the wood ; pack 
the barrel full of ashes, using about 200 pounds, and leaving a 
slight hollow in the center; fill with water, letting it cover the 
top of the ashes ; let stand a da}^ or two to get out the strength 
of the potash. When the lye is required for making soap or 
other purposes, all that it is necessary to do is to pull the plug 
and let it drain off. If required for chemical or domestic uses, 
it should be sufficiently strong to bear up an egg. If this lye 
is boiled down into potash about 12 to 15 pounds will be obtained, 
or, as is frequently the case, it can be utilized for making soft 
soap by putting about 20 gallons of the lye into a kettle ; add 
about 15 pounds of grease, and boil together until the grease is 
dissolved. After drawing off the first lot of lye as above, then 
plug up the hole in the barrel, put on more water, and again 
draw off the lye and add to that in the kettle about 15 gallons. 



44 WOOD ASHES AND THEIR USE. 

If the lye is still too strong* to come to soap, add a few gallons 
more of water, and use more of the weak l^^e. The result will 
be from 40 to -15 gallons of the most splendid soft soap. 

This second run of lye is worked into the soap in thinning, 
and it may need more weak l3^e afterwards to make it suf- 
ficiently thin for practical use. 



Care should be used in handling unleached ashes, as 
they are strong in potash, and will burn clothes or take 
skin off the hands if handled without gloves in warm 
weather. 



WHAT OTHERS SAY ABOUT OUR ASHES. 



The letter given below was written some time since by a 
gentleman connected with one of the leading agricultural schools 
of the countr}^ : 

To the Editor of The Country Gentleman: — I woukl like to say to your cor- 
respondent who inquires about Canadian ashes, that last spring we used a carload 
of them, bought from a dealer in Oswego, N. Y. They were bought by a sample 
which we analyzed in our own laboratory, and with which carload was to agree. 
Our chemists, whose analysis I have now on hand, reported that they would be 
cheap enough at the price, $16 per ton delivered at our station. The carload aver- 
aged rather better than the sample. We used these ashes with the best results on 
Irish and sweet potatoes, our crop of Irish potatoes being exceptionally fine. 
The ashes were so strong that in spreading them on plowed land they took the 
hair off the ankles of the mules hauling the wagon. I expect to use them 
largely the coming season, as I consider them the cheapest commercial fertilizer 
that I'^can buy for certain vegetables and fruits. I expect to try them also as a 
top dressing on grass land, having been pleased with a small trial on a lawn 
last spring. 

W. F. Massey. 

Miller Manual Labor School. 



I 



WHAT OTHERS SAY. 45 

A leading- tobacco raiser in the Connecticut Valley, Mr. 
Francis Clapp, says : 

For the past seven years I have used your Canada unleached hardwood ashes 
as a fertilizer in growing tobacco with great satisfaction. The yield is largely 
increased and quality greatly improved by their use. I have used side by side 
with these ashes stable manure and patent fertilizer, and found the ashes beat 
them all. The leaf is very large, smooth and silky, drying a nice color, burning 
well, leaving a white ash, and brings the highest price in the market. 

In using ashes for tobacco, where no ashes have been used before it is well 
the first year to use a little nitrate of soda or sulphate of ammonia around the 
plant when first set out to help start it until the ashes get to work ; then they 
will carry it through, making an early growth. 

"Wood ashes also restore to old, worn soil lost elements that have been taken 
from it by the continual cropping with tobacco. Some of my soil had become 
so run out that it did not matter how much manure I put on, it would not grow 
over 1,000 to 1,200 lbs. of tobacco, while now, by the use of ashes, I can grow as 
large and as nice crops as ever, even as high as 2,000 lbs. 

Mr. Powell, director of farmers' institutes and president of 
ISTew York State Ag-ricultural Societ}^ writes : 

Albany, N". Y., March 9, 1893. 
My Dear Sir: — Yours duly received. I have decided to have you forward 
me a carload of ashes to Ghent. N.Y., which is on the Hudson branch of the Boston 
& Albany Eailway. If they are equal to the others which 1 had from you, they 
must show a very high analysis, as I never had such good ashes as the ones you 
sent me. I will take photos of currants, gooseberries, grapes, cherries, apples, 
grain and grass, and give a fall line of experiments that will be of interest and 
value to the public. 

Yours very truly, 

Geo. T. Powell. 

PocANTico Hills, August 21, 1B93. 

Gentlemen :—l have used your ashes on three separate orders in past years, 
and have found them more useful and beneficial on my lands than any other 
manure I have applied. In one instance the results were so surprising as to 
attract the attention and curiosity of many persons, producing upon a rough hill- 
side no less than seven successive crops of the finest clover ever grown in this 
vicinity, as the same was pronounced by an intelligent and experienced farmer, 
who has resided here more than fifty years. 

Experience on other lands, though not so surprisingly successful, enables me to 
say that my use of your ashes has satisfied me that on our hills they are the 
cheapest and best of manures. 

I am, very respectfully, 

XoAH Davis. 

The writer of the above. Judge Davis, is well known through- 
out the Eastern States. 



46 WOOD ASHES AND THEIR USE. 

A prominent Massachusetts farmer, Mr. E. W. Jackson, 
who grows larg-e quantities of onions, writes as follows : 

During the past six years, except for the past season, I have been using your 
Canada harchvood ashes and commercial fertilizer on my onion land, using one 
hundred bushels of ashes and one ton of fertilizer per acre, with excellent results. 

The past season I used commercial fertilizer without the ashes and did not get 
one-half the yield that I did when I used ashes. I had a large growth of tops, but 
the onions bottomed very pocrly. 

In the future I shall use ashes for growing onions, if I can get them, for I 
think they are the best fertilizer that I can use for that purpose. 

The following" appeared recently in the columns of that 
standard publication, The Country Gentleman : 

Editor Country Gentleman : — Referring to article on page 410, let me say 
that there is no source of potash equal to wood ashes, and when an average 
good sample of the unleached article, dry, can be had at $12 or less a ton, it is 
also a cheap potash manure. A ton should contain from 110 to 140 lbs. of potash 
(potassium oxide, K2. 0.) in the best form, that of carbonate, in which potash 
could be applied. This potash is worth five cents and possibly six cents a pound. 
It is in good shape for plant food. Then ashes have considerable value as a 
moisture preserver, and may be used as a means of preventing injury from 
drought. Ashes also contain H per cent of phosphoric acid, and the lime wbich 
they contain also counts for something. Altogether, I have a high idea of wood 
ashes as a fertilizer for fruit and garden crops. 

" Minisink," however, tells us that we can buy 1,900 11)s. of potash, as sulphate 
of potash, which is frequently 95 per cent pure potash, at less than $50. and 1,600 
lbs. of pure potash, as muriate of potash, at |40 or $45. I should be glad of a 
chance to purchase pure potash at such rates. Now let us see where " Minisink " 
makes his mistake. There are samples of sulphate of potash which contain 95 
per cent not of "pure potash" (potassium oxide, K2. 0.), but of pure sulphate of 
potash (K2. SO-i.), which is an altogether difl'erent thing. A little over half of 
this 95 per cent pure sulphate of potash represents the amount of pure potash 
(potassium oxide), so that the best samples of the commercial, high-grade sul- 
phates have about 50 per cent of potash. This, at five cents a pound, would 
make the article worth about $50 per ton. I think we used to pay about $60 a 
ton for it. But it is a safe manure to apply to all crops that need potash, which 
cannot be said of muriate of potash. This I would not recommend for potatoes, 
nor for tobacco, nor for many of the fine garden vegetables. Muriate of potash 
is usually about 80 per cent pure muriate (chloride) of potash, not 80 per cent 
pure potash (oxide), and consequently contains from 40 to 50 per cent of pure 
potash. It costs about $45 per ton. 

" Minisink's" figures, therefore, dwindle down from 1,900 lbs. of pure potash 
for the sulphate of potash, and from 1,600 lbs. for the muriate of potash, to 1,000 
lbs. or less in both eases. This makes a material difi'erence as to the cost of the 
pure potash. When I can get good dry unleached hardwood ashes, let me tell 
you I will not spend much money for any of the products of the Stassfurt mines 
unless I use kainit as an ammonia-fixer in the stables. 

(Signed) T. Greiner. 

Niagara County, N. Y. 



BONE FERTILIZERS. 47 

A TEST WITH ASHES TO GROW IRISH POTATOES. 

The Ohio Agricultural Experimental Station tested the fol- 
lowing' fertilizers on this crop with the following* results : 

Fertilizers used were hardwood ashes, coal ashes, lime, gypsum, salt, hen 
manure, a mixture of ashes and plaster, also one of ashes and lime. They were 
applied when the potatoes were about two inches high. The hardwood ashes 
gave the best increase over the natural yield of the land. Ashes and plaster 
gave about the same result, while plaster alone gave no effects; neither did the 
lime. Salt should be used with caution, not over five bushels to the acre. Coal 
ashes had a marked beneficial effect. Hen manure gave excellent results, ap- 
pearing to be about the same as wood ashes. 



BONE FERTILIZERS, 



In order to meet the demand for bone meal and other bone 
fertilizers, which it is so often desirable or even necessary for 
best results to apply with wood ashes, we have taken the gen- 
eral eastern agency for the 

PURE ANIMAL FERTILIZERS 

manufactured by the famous firm of Armour & Co., of 
Chicago, 111. We offer these goods to our customers at lowest 
possible rates. All these fertilizers contain nothing but pure 
animal matter, collected, steamed and boiled at the company's 
great packing-house. We offer the following brands : 

1. BONE MEAL. 

OHIO OFFICIAL ANALYSIS FOR 1893. 

Ammonia 3.10 per cent. 

Total phosphoric acid 28.28' 

Phosphoric acid, fine bone 21.49 " 

'' " medium bone 6.79 " 

Commercial value per ton, $37.77. 



48 WOOD ASHES AND THEIR USE. # 

2. BONE AND BLOOD. 



*♦■ 



OHIO OFFICIAL ANALYSIS FOR 1893. 

Ammonia 8.25 per cent. 

Total phosphoric acid 10.09 " 

Insoluble " " medium bone 4.53 " 

Available " " fine bone 5.56 '* 

Commercial value per ton, $40.84. 

3. QUICK-ACTING BONE. 

OHIO OFFICIAL ANALYSIS FOR 1893. ^ ' ; 

Ammonia 3.00 per cMif.-'*' 

Total phosphoric acid 21.30 "^n ■* 

Insoluble " " medium bone 11.44 ''**"'•*,. 

Available '• " fine bone 9.H6 

Commercial value per ton, $34.44. 

4. DISSOLVED BONE. 

OHIO OFFICIAL ANALYSIS FOR 1893. 

Ammonia 2.20 per cent. 

Total phosphoric acid 15.48 " 

Insoluble " " 4.99 

Available '' " 10.49 ".^,. 

Potash 09 " •*^" 

Commercial value per ton, $25.55. 

Prices and other information given on application. 
MUNROE, LALOR & CO., 

Oswego, N. Y 





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IMPORTERS OF 



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ASHES • 

Oswego, Nkw^ York. 






GENERAL EASTERN AGENTS FOR 

ARNIOUR &. CO., CHICAGO, 

BONE FERTILIZERS. 



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